The MLS league...

Thinking of starting a game in the MLS. Can anyone explain to me how the transfer system works as I have no clue and I hear the word 'draft' a lot...

MLS would be great had SI not taken the youth academy systems completely out. Some real life teams do have academies that are now after 10 years starting to produce some quality players. (also coaches are exteremly difficult to hire as they request too high of demands that many people have seemed to begin complaining about)

MLS is much different then any other football league for many reasons. First, the players are technically owned by the league, so every player that you sell to a team outside of MLS, 33% of the sale goes directly to the league. Also youth are drafted, in which the league brings in all the youth players developed (normally by colleges) to the draft in which every team within the league has picks to. The draft works where teams scout players then in a pre-determined order (worst team from the previous season goes first), select the players they want. There is a draft every January called the MLS super draft.

Also in terms of the transfer system, players are not bought and sold to each other, however they are traded. They can be traded for other players, draft picks, or money or a combination of all 3. There is also a salary cap in which every team must be under, however, 3 players can be called "DP" players or designated players, in which their wages can be whatever you want them to be, however only count x amount against your salary.

MLS is a fun different league as you can't just buy your favorite players. That is the short version of an MLS explanation, the best way to figure it out is just go and play around in it

Hmm interesting. So if you don't get players coming through your academy, how does the MLS gain regens? Is there a regen college draft every january then?

Haha just seen that you and I share the same birthday Mlindqui!!

Hmm interesting. So if you don't get players coming through your academy, how does the MLS gain regens? Is there a regen college draft every january then?

There is indeed a draft at the start of every season. You can still make transfers for foreign players just like all the other leagues as well, aside from just trading players within the league. There are numerous limits to your roster though, like each team has 9 international play slots, these IP slots can be traded as well if you need more or have extras (they aren't really worth much but it's an option). You can only have 20 senior contract players on your roster (although this seems to be broken will explain later) and a total of 24 players over all (using developmental contracts or Adidas contracts), so these combined with the DP's, salary cap, and IP's make it a little more challenging to assemble a solid team.

The have seemed to removed the Youth Academies but all they were in 2010 were affiliated clubs that you had almost 0 interaction with. They did however offer an influx of other newgens (aside from the draft players) at the beginning of each season, unless you had a very full team. I'm assuming you will still get the newgens from the academies as before, there is just no interaction with them at all. But that is just a guess, if you don't even get that then SI screwed up.

There are no reserve or youth teams for players to develop, they either have to fit in your 24 man roster or you need to loan them out, otherwise they are placed on wavers (meaning cut from the team) during the season... in pre-season you can have as big of a roster you want, but you have to cut it down come registration.

All this being said, I've seen some bugs with the MLS in 2011... very major bugs. The biggest being that when you go to the team registration screen where you select your roster, every single player is listed with a developmental contract which totally breaks the 20 senior player regulation. It worked fine in 2010 they just broke it here. Plus I've offered contracts to young players and not even seen the option to sign developmental contracts I could only offer senior contracts, not sure what the deal is. Seems like a bug, but they might have changed it so internationals won't sign dev contracts but that's not how it was in 2010 either.